Mosimane plans in-depth review of Bafana’s World Cup campaign

In an exclusive interview with SABC Sport after the conclusion of the CAF Strategy Conference in Santa Maria, Sal Island in Cape Verde, Mosimane was encouraged by what he saw. 

The conference had been called by CAF to review the performances of the record 10 African representatives at the World Cup and also chart a way forward for the 2030 approach. 

Led by FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger, Mosimane says now the focus is to learn and take action from this report... 

"The report highlighted many aspects of Bafana's game during the World Cup, and our box entries was especially lacking but some of the other aspects we were not too bad in. All of this has been great for us coaches to go back and learn from these lessons."

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Wenger was assisted by another member of the FIFA TSG and former Ghanaian national team head coach Otto Addo, as well as FIFA Team Lead for Football Performance Analysis Aaron Ackerman. 

The analysis showed that nine of Africa’s 10 representatives reached the knockout stage — the best progression rate of any confederation.

The report also identified small margins in chance creation, counter-pressing, penalty-box presence and late-game management that separated African sides from the tournament’s leading teams. There was also a panel discussion of coaches who were at the World Cup, Mohamed Ouahbi (Morocco), Emre Fae (Ivory Coast), Sébastien Desabre (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Pedro “Bubista” Brito (Cape Verde). 

One of the biggest challenges in African football, especially for countries going to major competitions like the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCONS) and the World Cups, has been the meddling of football leadership in technical team decisions. 

This was also highlighted a lot during the feedback session and strategic look-forward approach to the 2030 World Cup, as Mosimane recalls the engagements from inside...

"Certain ideas were discussed to see how much better FIFA's contribution in Africa can be. The coach of Côte d'Ivoire was also brave enough to bring up the fact that federations have to provide more support and give more patience to their coaches."